Beaver County taxpayers may soon be on the hook for allegedly disparaging statements made by Sheriff Tony Guy about former deputies during his political campaign for reelection in 2019. Commissioners are scheduled to vote next week on whether to approve a $25,000 settlement agreement with the deputies that would be paid for entirely by public funds.
While taxpayers would be paying out big, terms of the agreement ensure Tony Guy would not be responsible for paying anything to settle the federal litigation.
Former county sheriff’s deputies Paul Clark, Curtis Larrick, and John Fratangeli filed the litigation in October 2019, alleging Guy violated their settlement agreements from prior lawsuits brought against him in 2016. The original lawsuits alleged Guy fired them when first taking office that same year, and further disparaged them, as retaliation for openly supported Wayne Kress, Guy’s Democratic opponent.
Guy denied the allegations, asserting he had good reason to dismiss the deputies.
The county settled the lawsuits brought by Clark and Fratangeli in May 2017, for what sources in county government said was a combined sum of between $20,000 and $25,000. It settled the lawsuit brought by Larrick in August 2018 for what sources said was $85,000.
